From Mom 5/24
Dear Family,
Thank you for your letters. You have been so good about writing and keeping us up on what’s going on at home. It’s hard to believe that this is the last day of school. I guess because this is the first year in a lot of years that I haven’t been involved some way in the school year, it just doesn’t seem like it should be over already. School goes here until the end of July and they have just six weeks before it starts again in September. But they have LOTS of vacations during the year and long ones too. They have three weeks off for Christmas and two weeks off at Easter and sometime during February they are out for a week for some religious holiday. It also seems like school is out for every state and national holiday that comes along. I think I would just as soon have a longer vacation during the summer!
We have gone from cold to very warm this week. And it seems so good to have the sun shining every day. I don’t do well on cold, dark, rainy days. We have been thankful to have air conditioning in our car. Believe it or not, I’m the one who is usually turning it down. Dad about freezes me out sometimes. That’s a switch, huh.
This morning we went out to the Clements. This is the family who are moving to Utah where Brother Clement will teach German at BYU. He teaches school here so won’t be out until the end of July but his wife and 5 children are leaving on the 30th. He will fly out with them and then come back to finish his school year. Sister Clement has her hands full with a 3 year old and 6 month old twins. The other two are in school. We told her we would come and tend the children so she could pack. The babies went down for a nap at about 10 o’clock and Dad and I took the 3 year old for a LONG walk up to a playground. We were gone nearly 2 hours and she was able to get a lot of packing done. It was a nice change of pace for us and counted as our service hours for the week. They will take just clothes for now and Brother Clement will organize things for the movers to come in and pack things to be shipped later on. She will stay with her parents and try to find a place to live. They are a nice family. He was baptized last September but there was no follow through afterwards so we have been meeting regularly with them to give the new-member discussions. He recently received the Melchizedek priesthood and has appreciated Dad’s help with understanding how to do things with that priesthood. We will miss them. Their kids call us Opa and Oma, which is grandpa and grandma. They speak German most of the time but also do pretty well with English. The Mama is a bit concerned about how they will adjust to and all English speaking school. They go to a German school here.
Missionary wise we’ve had a busy week. We’ve met with a lot of people. Monday we had a meeting scheduled with Petra at 8:30. When we pulled into the parking lot, she was there in her car and asked us to follow her. She wanted to go out “into the nature” and have our discussion. We drove about 10 miles out of town, parked the car and walked up a dirt road to where there was a bench. There were birds chirping, frogs croaking, geese arguing and lots of butterflies and other little flying critters. We were definitely out in “the nature”. But it was very peaceful and a beautiful morning and we had a good discussion on some scriptures she wanted to understand more clearly. She called yesterday and wants us to come tomorrow to explain some more things to her. She is quite the gospel scholar. What a blessing she has been to us on this mission. Her baptism may be the only one we have and if that’s so, that’s okay. She is a jewel.
We had an interesting meeting with the 18 year old we met at the hospital. After we talked for awhile, he said he didn’t think he could join our church because it was too restrictive. He said he loves to party and to drink and smoke and is just not ready to give those things up. He is hoping someday to be a professional athlete (I can’t remember what sport) and if he was a Mormon he couldn’t do that. We told him there are professional sports people in the church but didn’t make a big deal of it. He somehow gets the idea that if he belonged to the church he just couldn’t have fun anymore. If he only knew what real fun was, huh? He is the typical rich, spoiled kid. His father owns three companies; one here in German, one in Japan and one in Detroit. His mother is a designer. They are loaded with money but spend very little time together. He and his two brothers just pretty much do anything they want to do. At the end of our meeting we had a prayer and when we finished he said something like, “I don’t know what it is, but I feel a special spirit when I am with you.” We told him to keep us in mind and when he wanted a change in his lifestyle to look up the church. He asked if we would keep in touch with him through E-mail. Very interesting.
Stephanie is back in the hospital. She called and asked us to come and visit her. She is so confused. She told us about her plans and about her concerns and was quite surprised when we told her that she needed to include her husband in her plans now and that she needs to share her concerns with him too. This is something brand new to her but I think she is willing to try. She doesn’t know for sure when she will be getting out of the hospital for good. Meanwhile, he is living in his “flat” (apartment) and she is at the hospital. Some way to begin married life, huh? They are hoping to find a flat in Wurzburg. To be honest, I was hoping they would stay in his flat away from Wurzburg! Now that isn’t very nice, is it? I just think they are so “labeled” here and it would be easier for them to start out where not everyone knows their problems. But then that’s none of my business so I best keep my opinions to myself.
It is so fun to see how happy and excited Alex is about his baptism. I hope we can catch some of that on some pictures. His father will not come to his baptism. His mother is coming but isn’t very happy about it. I hope she can feel the love the people in the ward have for her son and that she can feel the spirit of this special occasion. He is such an awesome young man and he loves the gospel. He loves singing the hymns. He usually picks them out at FHE. He is a bit more quiet and reserved than Thomas but every bit as committed to the gospel. I just think it is so great that Thomas will be baptizing him. That friendship will be an eternal friendship.
This has been another week of dinner appointments. We tried Spargle for the first time. That is white asparagus and it is delicious. The season for it lasts for just two months. It grows under the ground and when the tips poke up out of the ground, they harvest it by digging it out. The stems are a bit bigger around that the asparagus we are used to and it is much more mellow and tender. We were at a member’s home and she served a Hollandaise sauce over it and it was so delicious. We only have another month to eat it so we’ve planning on having it regularly while we can. The other appointment was a bar-b-que and it was good too. They do at least three different kinds of meat. Of course, they have some kind of sausage and they had some kind of steak, and fish. We were stuffed!!! Tomorrow night there is another bar-b-que. A family of nine children in the ward were sealed in the temple last week-end and this is a get together to celebrate that wonderful occasion. Then Saturday night is Alex’s baptism and they have called and asked everyone to bring food for that. And Sunday, we have been invited to dinner at the home of our Relief Society president. The only food we’ve had to buy this week has been milk, bananas and apples for breakfast. It’s a good thing every week is not like this or we’d have to buy all new clothes! But it’s fun while it lasts.
I’m excited about your upcoming trip. That will be so much fun for everyone and will be a memory builder for all of you. We wish we could be there with you but are so thankful that you enjoy being together and doing things together. It doesn’t seem possible that it will be a year next month that we were all together at Lagoon and then at home for a wonderful reunion. Hopefully we can do something similar next year.
Know that you are loved. We are so thankful for each one of you. You are what makes our lives happy and worthwhile. Thank you for the good things you are doing for each other and for the training you are giving your children. There isn’t a more important thing that you could be doing. The gospel is true. “I Am a Child of God” is very true for each one of us.
Much love always,
Mom
Thank you for your letters. You have been so good about writing and keeping us up on what’s going on at home. It’s hard to believe that this is the last day of school. I guess because this is the first year in a lot of years that I haven’t been involved some way in the school year, it just doesn’t seem like it should be over already. School goes here until the end of July and they have just six weeks before it starts again in September. But they have LOTS of vacations during the year and long ones too. They have three weeks off for Christmas and two weeks off at Easter and sometime during February they are out for a week for some religious holiday. It also seems like school is out for every state and national holiday that comes along. I think I would just as soon have a longer vacation during the summer!
We have gone from cold to very warm this week. And it seems so good to have the sun shining every day. I don’t do well on cold, dark, rainy days. We have been thankful to have air conditioning in our car. Believe it or not, I’m the one who is usually turning it down. Dad about freezes me out sometimes. That’s a switch, huh.
This morning we went out to the Clements. This is the family who are moving to Utah where Brother Clement will teach German at BYU. He teaches school here so won’t be out until the end of July but his wife and 5 children are leaving on the 30th. He will fly out with them and then come back to finish his school year. Sister Clement has her hands full with a 3 year old and 6 month old twins. The other two are in school. We told her we would come and tend the children so she could pack. The babies went down for a nap at about 10 o’clock and Dad and I took the 3 year old for a LONG walk up to a playground. We were gone nearly 2 hours and she was able to get a lot of packing done. It was a nice change of pace for us and counted as our service hours for the week. They will take just clothes for now and Brother Clement will organize things for the movers to come in and pack things to be shipped later on. She will stay with her parents and try to find a place to live. They are a nice family. He was baptized last September but there was no follow through afterwards so we have been meeting regularly with them to give the new-member discussions. He recently received the Melchizedek priesthood and has appreciated Dad’s help with understanding how to do things with that priesthood. We will miss them. Their kids call us Opa and Oma, which is grandpa and grandma. They speak German most of the time but also do pretty well with English. The Mama is a bit concerned about how they will adjust to and all English speaking school. They go to a German school here.
Missionary wise we’ve had a busy week. We’ve met with a lot of people. Monday we had a meeting scheduled with Petra at 8:30. When we pulled into the parking lot, she was there in her car and asked us to follow her. She wanted to go out “into the nature” and have our discussion. We drove about 10 miles out of town, parked the car and walked up a dirt road to where there was a bench. There were birds chirping, frogs croaking, geese arguing and lots of butterflies and other little flying critters. We were definitely out in “the nature”. But it was very peaceful and a beautiful morning and we had a good discussion on some scriptures she wanted to understand more clearly. She called yesterday and wants us to come tomorrow to explain some more things to her. She is quite the gospel scholar. What a blessing she has been to us on this mission. Her baptism may be the only one we have and if that’s so, that’s okay. She is a jewel.
We had an interesting meeting with the 18 year old we met at the hospital. After we talked for awhile, he said he didn’t think he could join our church because it was too restrictive. He said he loves to party and to drink and smoke and is just not ready to give those things up. He is hoping someday to be a professional athlete (I can’t remember what sport) and if he was a Mormon he couldn’t do that. We told him there are professional sports people in the church but didn’t make a big deal of it. He somehow gets the idea that if he belonged to the church he just couldn’t have fun anymore. If he only knew what real fun was, huh? He is the typical rich, spoiled kid. His father owns three companies; one here in German, one in Japan and one in Detroit. His mother is a designer. They are loaded with money but spend very little time together. He and his two brothers just pretty much do anything they want to do. At the end of our meeting we had a prayer and when we finished he said something like, “I don’t know what it is, but I feel a special spirit when I am with you.” We told him to keep us in mind and when he wanted a change in his lifestyle to look up the church. He asked if we would keep in touch with him through E-mail. Very interesting.
Stephanie is back in the hospital. She called and asked us to come and visit her. She is so confused. She told us about her plans and about her concerns and was quite surprised when we told her that she needed to include her husband in her plans now and that she needs to share her concerns with him too. This is something brand new to her but I think she is willing to try. She doesn’t know for sure when she will be getting out of the hospital for good. Meanwhile, he is living in his “flat” (apartment) and she is at the hospital. Some way to begin married life, huh? They are hoping to find a flat in Wurzburg. To be honest, I was hoping they would stay in his flat away from Wurzburg! Now that isn’t very nice, is it? I just think they are so “labeled” here and it would be easier for them to start out where not everyone knows their problems. But then that’s none of my business so I best keep my opinions to myself.
It is so fun to see how happy and excited Alex is about his baptism. I hope we can catch some of that on some pictures. His father will not come to his baptism. His mother is coming but isn’t very happy about it. I hope she can feel the love the people in the ward have for her son and that she can feel the spirit of this special occasion. He is such an awesome young man and he loves the gospel. He loves singing the hymns. He usually picks them out at FHE. He is a bit more quiet and reserved than Thomas but every bit as committed to the gospel. I just think it is so great that Thomas will be baptizing him. That friendship will be an eternal friendship.
This has been another week of dinner appointments. We tried Spargle for the first time. That is white asparagus and it is delicious. The season for it lasts for just two months. It grows under the ground and when the tips poke up out of the ground, they harvest it by digging it out. The stems are a bit bigger around that the asparagus we are used to and it is much more mellow and tender. We were at a member’s home and she served a Hollandaise sauce over it and it was so delicious. We only have another month to eat it so we’ve planning on having it regularly while we can. The other appointment was a bar-b-que and it was good too. They do at least three different kinds of meat. Of course, they have some kind of sausage and they had some kind of steak, and fish. We were stuffed!!! Tomorrow night there is another bar-b-que. A family of nine children in the ward were sealed in the temple last week-end and this is a get together to celebrate that wonderful occasion. Then Saturday night is Alex’s baptism and they have called and asked everyone to bring food for that. And Sunday, we have been invited to dinner at the home of our Relief Society president. The only food we’ve had to buy this week has been milk, bananas and apples for breakfast. It’s a good thing every week is not like this or we’d have to buy all new clothes! But it’s fun while it lasts.
I’m excited about your upcoming trip. That will be so much fun for everyone and will be a memory builder for all of you. We wish we could be there with you but are so thankful that you enjoy being together and doing things together. It doesn’t seem possible that it will be a year next month that we were all together at Lagoon and then at home for a wonderful reunion. Hopefully we can do something similar next year.
Know that you are loved. We are so thankful for each one of you. You are what makes our lives happy and worthwhile. Thank you for the good things you are doing for each other and for the training you are giving your children. There isn’t a more important thing that you could be doing. The gospel is true. “I Am a Child of God” is very true for each one of us.
Much love always,
Mom
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